In Maryland’s final regular season game as a member of the ACC the Terrapins needed five extra minutes to beat Virginia in College Park. The Cavaliers executed well late in regulation to force the extra session, with Anthony Gill’s basket with less than a second remaining tying the game. That could have been a crushing blow for the Terps, but Seth Allen and Dez Wells made important baskets in overtime to make sure that wasn’t the case.

IMPORTANT OUTCOMES

1) No. 2 Wichita State 83, Indiana State 69

34 games. 34 wins. Gregg Marshall’s team took the next step in its quest to win a national title, responding to a second-half Indiana State run the way that champions are supposed to. Fred VanVleet scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half, and Tekele Cotton added 20 points for the winners. Jake Odum and Justin Gant scored 18 points apiece for the Sycamores, who should land in the Postseason NIT.

2) Nebraska 77, No. 9 Wisconsin 68

While some bubble teams have managed to stumble down the stretch, others have risen to the occasion. One of those teams is Nebraska, which knocked off No. 9 Wisconsin in Lincoln. Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields scored 26 points apiece to lead the way, and there were other contributors as well. After starting conference play 0-4 Tim Miles’ Huskers have won 11 of their last 14, and they’re moving closer to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1998.

Warren made his final statement ahead of the ACC’s vote for Player of the Year, scoring 42 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the Wolfpack’s 78-68 win over Boston College. Warren’s scored 40-plus points in consecutive games, the first time an ACC player’s done this since 1957.

TJ Warren is the first player to score 40 points in consecutive ACC games since 1957 (Lennie Rosenbluth and Grady Wallace both did it)

Wilson struggled in the Hawks’ 71-63 home loss to La Salle, shooting 1-for-9 and finishing with two points, four rebounds and three assists.

2) Akil Mitchell and Mike Tobey (Virginia)

Mitchell and Tobey combined to score six points on 2-for-7 shooting in the Cavaliers’ 75-69 overtime loss at Maryland.

3) Sampson Carter and Raphiael Putney (UMass)

Both players shot 2-for-10 from the field, combining to score 13 points in their 64-62 loss to No. 17 Saint Louis.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS

America East: New tournament format year too late for Vermont
After Stony Brook lost at Albany in last season’s semifinals the conference changed its tournament format, with the higher seed hosting every game. But that won’t occur until next season, leaving Vermont in the situation Stony Brook found itself in a season ago. Final score: Albany 67, Vermont 58. Peter Hooley scored 26 points and Gary Johnson added 17 to go along with 13 rebounds for the Great Danes, who will play at Stony Brook on Saturday for the automatic bid.

Atlantic Sun: Mercer returns the favor to earn first NCAA bid since 1985
Last season FGCU began its captivating run with an Atlantic Sun title game win over Mercer on the Bears’ home court. Mercer hopes to do the same after beating FGCU 68-60 at Alico Arena. Langston Hall and Anthony White Jr. scored 15 points apiece for Bob Hoffman’s team, which has the ability to spring an upset in the NCAA tournament.

Big South: Coastal Carolina earns first NCAA berth since 1993
The Chanticleers are headed back to the NCAA tournament thanks to a 76-61 win over Winthrop. Warren Gillis led four starters in double figures with 22 points, and Cliff Ellis has now led four programs to the NCAA tournament as a head coach.

CAA: Delaware, William & Mary advance to Monday’s title game
Top-seed Delaware took care of business, beating Northeastern 87-74 in one semifinal. Their opponent in Monday’s title game will be William & Mary, with the Tribe beating Towson 75-71 in the other semifinal. And there will be some really good guards on the floor Monday night in Baltimore, with the Blue Hens being led by an experienced four-guard attack and Marcus Thornton the headliner for William & Mary.

MAAC: Bitter rivals Iona, Manhattan to play for the title
Two schools separated by about ten miles will play for the MAAC automatic bid for the second consecutive season, with Iona holding off Canisius 75-72 and Manhattan whipping Quinnipiac 87-68. Iona’s Sean Armand and Manhattan’s George Beamon are two of the headliners who will be on center stage in Springfield, and these are two very talented teams capable of winning once in the NCAA field as well. But only one can go.

Southern: Western Carolina knocks off Davidson
There will be a new SoCon representative in the NCAA tournament, with Western Carolina beating Davidson 99-97 in overtime. Trey Sumler scored 26 points for the Catamounts. Their opposition on Monday for the automatic bid: Wofford, with the Terriers eliminating Georgia Southern by the final score of 71-57.

Summit: Denver, South Dakota State roll
Both winners scored 71 points, with Denver beating South Dakota 71-55 and South Dakota State outclassing Western Illinois by a final score of 71-50. Next up for Denver is top-seed North Dakota State, which received a bye to the semifinals. As for last season’s conference representative, the Jackrabbits face two-seed IPFW.

Jordair Jett’s layup with just over three seconds remaining gave No. 17 Saint Louis a 64-62 win at UMass, ending their three-game losing streak just ahead of the Atlantic 10 tournament. The Billikens will be the top seed in Brooklyn, while the loss dropped UMass from a three to a six-seed in the event.

Saint Joseph’s suffered a tough loss for its resume, losing 71-63 at home to Big 5 (and Atlantic 10) rival La Salle. The Hawks will be a four-seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament, so they’ll get a bye to the quarterfinals.

On Thursday afternoon, Brad Underwood, the new head coach of Illinois, was invited to Wrigley Field to throw out the first pitch and sing ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game’ during the seventh inning stretch.

While the ceremonial first pitch went well, his rendition of the ballpark classic did not go as smoothly.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The American Athletic Conference will hold its men’s basketball tournament in a new arena in North Texas in 2020.

AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco announced Wednesday that Dickies Arena in Fort Worth has been selected to host the tournament for three years, starting in March 2020. That is only four months after the facility is scheduled to open.

On the same day of a groundbreaking ceremony for the 14,000-seat arena last April, the NCAA announced that first- and second-round games of the 2022 NCAA men’s basketball tournament would be held there. The NCAA women’s gymnastics championships are scheduled there from 2020-22.

The closest AAC school to the new arena is SMU, with its campus in Dallas about 40 miles away.

Orlando will host the 2018 AAC tournament, which moves to Memphis in 2019.

North Carolina has wrapped up a two-day hearing with an NCAA infractions committee panel that will decide whether the school faces penalties tied to its multi-year academic scandal.

Now the case goes into yet another holding pattern.

School officials spent much of Wednesday in a closed-door meeting with committee members in Nashville, Tennessee. They returned Thursday morning for a second session lasting about 4½ hours with the panel that will determine whether UNC faces penalties such as fines, probation or vacated wins and championships.

NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn confirmed the hearing was complete but both sides were mum afterward.

Osburn didn’t comment further because the panel must deliberate before issuing a ruling, which typically comes weeks to months after a hearing. UNC athletics spokesman Steve Kirschner said the school wouldn’t have any comments about the hearing either.

Getting through the hearing process was a major step toward resolution in a delay-filled case tied to irregular courses, though there’s still the potential for the case to linger beyond a ruling if UNC decides to appeal or pursue legal action. The school faces five top-level charges, including lack of institutional control.

The focus is independent study-style courses in the formerly named African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM) department. The courses were misidentified as lecture classes that didn’t meet and required a research paper or two for typically high grades.

In a 2014 investigation, former U.S. Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein estimated more than 3,100 students were affected between 1993 and 2011, with athletes making up roughly half the enrollments.

The NCAA has said UNC used those courses to help keep athletes eligible.

The case grew as an offshoot of a 2010 probe of the football program that resulted in sanctions in March 2012. The NCAA reopened an investigation in summer 2014, filed charges in a May 2015, revised them in April 2016 and then again in December.

Most notably, the NCAA originally treated some of the academic issues as improper benefits by saying athletes received access to the courses and other assistance generally unavailable to non-athletes. The NCAA removed that charge in the second Notice of Allegations (NOA), then revamped and re-inserted it into the third NOA.

UNC has challenged the NCAA’s jurisdiction, saying its accreditation agency — which sanctioned the school with a year of probation — was the proper authority and that the NCAA was overreaching in what should be an academic matter .

The NCAA enforcement staff countered in a July filing: “The issues at the heart of this case are clearly the NCAA’s business.”

UNC has argued non-athletes had access to the courses and athletes didn’t receive special treatment. It has also challenged Wainstein’s estimate of athlete enrollments, saying Wainstein counted athletes who were no longer team members and putting the figure at less than 30 percent.

None of the coaches are charged with a violation. But football and men’s basketball are referenced in the broad-based improper benefits charge tied to athlete access to the irregular courses, while women’s basketball is tied to a charge focused on a former professor and academic counselor Jan Boxill providing improper assistance on assignments.

Boxill and Deborah Crowder, who is also charged individually in the case, attended Wednesday with their attorneys but didn’t return Thursday. Crowder is a former AFAM office administrator who enrolled students, distributed assignments and graded many of the papers in irregular courses.

The infractions panel is chaired by Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and includes former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Here’s what allegedly happened: He was at a bar in Overton Square in Memphis at 1:30 a.m. when he was handed a bill for more than $88 by a waitress. That waitress, who said she went to high school with Lawson, told police that he walked out of the bar and got into a Nissan Maxima and left without paying the bill.

Dedric has denied the allegation. Appearing on 92.9 FM, an ESPN radio station in Memphis, he said that he ordered two drinks worth a total of $10.50 and gave the waitress $12, but she wanted him to pay for drinks that were ordered by other people for other people. He did not order or drink those drinks, Lawson said, so he did not want to pay for them.

Lawson transferred from Memphis to Kansas this offseason. He was suspended by the Jayhawks for an altercation in practice last month and left home from the team’s trip to Italy earlier this month. He averaged 19.9 points and 9.2 boards for the Tigers last season, and will be sitting out this year as a transfer at Kansas.

At least five programs are currently in Barcelona: Clemson, Arizona, Oregon State, Grand Canyon and Tulane. All five programs have released statements confirming that all members of the traveling parties are safe and accounted for.

The attack occurred right outside Clemson’s hotel. The team is currently on lockdown.

According to Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle, the attack “happened directly in front of our hotel while we were having a team meal in the restaurant.”

Our entire travel party is safe and accounted for following the situation in Barcelona today. Our thoughts are with the people affected.